Yesterday, I have moved my WordPress blog site (https://www.techcartnow.com/) to “https” using Let’s Encrypt’s Free SSL Certificate.  It takes me less than a hour to do so. In this article, I will share all the steps that I followed to move the WordPress blog site to https.

A. Getting a free SSL Certificate from Let’s Encrypt

(Let’s Encrypt is a free, automated, and open Certificate Authority.)

Step 1: Download Windows ACME Simple (WACS) – ACME client for Windows for use with Let’s Encrypt

Download link: win-acme.v1.9.10.1.zip

Step 2: Run letsencrypt.exe using command prompt (Run as Administrator)

letsencrypt.exe --plugin manual --manualhost www.YourSite.com --validation ftp --webroot ftp://ftp.YourSite.com/www/ --username YourSiteFtpUserName --password YourSiteFtpPassword

 

Here:

–plugin             : Specify which target plugin to choose, bypassing the main menu and triggering unattended mode. (--plugin manual)
–manualhost : A host name to manually get a certificate for (--manualhost www.YourSite.com)
–validation     : Specify which validation plugin to run (--validation ftp)
–webroot        : A web root for the manual host name for validation (--webroot ftp://ftp.YourSite.com/www/)
–username     : Username for FTP(S) server (--username YourSiteFtpUserName)
–password      : Password for FTP(S) server (--password YourSiteFtpPassword)

Output: 

The newly generated SSL Certificate is saved to C:\Users\KK\AppData\Roaming\letsencrypt-win-simple\httpsacme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org as mentioned in output.

B. Installing the newly generated free SSL Certificate

I am using Linux-based web hosting for my blog & used cPanel (control panel) for installing the SSL Certificate as explained below:

Step 1: Login to cPanel & click “SSL/TLS” under Security

Step 2: Click “Manage SSL sites” on SSL/TLS Manager Page

Step 3: Under “Install an SSL Website” on Manage SSL Hosts Page fill the details

Here:

Domain                                           : www.techcartnow.com
Certificate: (CRT)                        : www.techcartnow.com-crt.pem
Private Key (KEY)                        : www.techcartnow.com-key.pem
Certificate Authority Bundle : (CABUNDLE): ca-www.techcartnow.com-crt.pem

Note: Certificate, Private Key & Certificate Authority Bundle are available in the C:\Users\KK\AppData\Roaming\letsencrypt-win-simple\httpsacme-v01.api.letsencrypt.org directory.

After filling the details click “Install Certificate”.

Boom. We have done its done.

Note: Do remember to renew the certificate before the due date.